When CurlManitoba’s Viterra Men’s Championship takes place at Stride Place Arena in Portage la Prairie, February 4-9, 2025, it will the 100th time that the top male curlers in the province have competed for the opportunity to represent Manitoba in inter-provincial competition. CurlManitoba and the Portage host committee are planning a celebration to mark the occasion.

While there had been bonspiels like the MCA bonspiel, which began in 1889, and other major provincial bonspiels across Canada, the 1925 competition won by Howard Wood and his Granite team became the first provincial championship event in Canada.

The championship has been played every year since with only four title sponsors (Macdonald Tobacco, Labatts, Safeway, Viterra) and with the only year missed being 2021, when Covid wiped out the curling season.

To celebrate this very significant occasion in Manitoba and Canadian curling history, CurlManitoba and the Portage host committee are inviting past Manitoba Men’s champions to a 100th anniversary “Reunion of Champions” at the Viterra Championship in February, 2025.

The celebration of 100 years will recognize the four primary sponsors along with the 99 previous champions. Of approximately 400 men (many of them multiple times, of course) who have won a Manitoba purple heart, symbolic of winning the men’s curling championship, it is estimated that about 120 champions, from the 1950’s to the present, are still alive.

Every past Manitoba Men’s champion is invited to attend the formal recognition at the Opening Banquet of the 2025 Viterra Championship. Invitations are being issued but, unfortunately, the association has lost touch with some past champions and all are invited to contact CurlManitoba (mca@curlmanitoba.org OR 204-925-5723) to ensure they are on the invitation list.

THE MACDONALD BRIER TROPHY: The first Manitoba championship curling event, officially called the Macdonald Brier Trophy event in the MCA Bonspiel, took place in 1925. It has since been known as the British Consols, Labatt Tankard, Safeway Select, Safeway Championship, and Viterra Championship.

Even during the years of World War II, a Manitoba championship took place despite the fact the Macdonald Brier national championship was paused from 1943 to 1945.

That 1925 event is recognized as the first stepping stone toward establishment of the Brier. Howard Wood’s champion Granite team was hosted on a good-will tour of Eastern Canada, playing the best teams in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec. The idea was repeated in 1926 when George Sherwood’s St John’s CC team was taken east, this time to play in the annual Quebec bonspiel.

The interest in the games between the Manitobans and their eastern opponents led to the establishment of the first Macdonald Brier in 1927. It has been lost in the mists of time that the Manitobans competed for the Macdonald Brier Trophy and the winners advanced to play for the Macdonald Brier Tankard (the same national trophy being played for today). Manitoba’s championship became the British Consols in 1937.

During the Viterra Championship in Portage, a number of special events and historic displays will help celebrate the 100th championship.

QUALIFYING & TICKET SALES: Curlers are encouraged to try to qualify for what will be a special event in Portage. Berth winners will join defending champion Reid Carruthers and 2023-24 CTRS berth winner Jordon McDonald and their teams, who have pre-qualified.

Qualifying events will include the MCT Atkins Classic at Assiniboine Memorial (October 4-6), the Viterra Berth Bonspiel in Carman (November 8-10), Regional Qualifiers (December 6-8), two berths in the MCT Showdown in Stonewall (Nov. 29 – Dec. 1), and the MCT Shootout in Virden (December 13-15). The Brandon Bonspiel (January 10-12) will provide one more entry for Portage and the final three will come from the last-chance Manitoba Open (January 16-20). As in the past, season high point teams on MCT and CTRS will also qualify.

Tickets for curling fans who want to join the celebration and watch the best men’s teams compete for this year’s provincial title will go on sale December 1^st.

Paul Scinocca and his Manitoba team have won Manitoba a second consecutive Gold Medal at the Canada 55+ Games. Two other Manitoba teams qualified for bronze medal games but both fell short.

Scinocca, Norma Purdy, Paul Armstrong and Marla Boyd had a 3W-0L record in pool play and advanced direct to the gold medal game today in Quebec City. British Columbia won the other pool with an identical perfect record. Team Manitoba won the gold medal with a 7-5 victory.

At the previous 55+ Games, Ray Baker’s Dauphin team won a gold medal in the men’s competition.

At this year’s event, Bill Mamchuk and his team (3rd – Larry Schroeder, 2nd – Dan Beaudoin, Lead – Stu Marshall, 5th – Fred Spiring) in the 65+ Men’s Division posted a 2W-2L record to advance to the bronze medal game but were defeated in their medal game by Alberta.

Two Women’s teams represented Manitoba.

Patti Ulrich (3rd – Brenda Michel, 2nd – Tammy Selman, Lead – Jill Proctor) finished round robin play with a 2W-2L record, tied for fourth in the standings with Nova Scotia. As NS had beaten them in pool play, the Maritimers advanced to the Bronze medal game.

Bev Atkins (3rd – Kathy Issac, 2nd – Lynn Sandercock, Lead – Anne Mushamanski) qualified for the bronze game in their division with a 2W-1L record. They were assigned third place in the standings and the bronze game berth based on draw-to-the button tally. They lost the medal game to BC in an extra end.

At this year’s event in Quebec City, it was announced that Winnipeg will be the host city for the Canada Senior 55+ Games in 2026.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Having already spent a couple of afternoons on the ice in Morris, I am ready for summer to be over and curling season to begin. I see Jordon McDonald and his team have had a good start in Edmonton – reaching today’s championship round and I’m hunting for details on the performance of four Manitoba teams at the Canada 55+ Sr Games in Quebec. And I’m ready to start talking/writing about curling again. Looking forward to a great season ahead – GOOD LUCK & GOOD CURLING TO ALL OF YOU!!!!

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Eleven teams from the United States and nine from Canada will be playing this weekend in the international Icebreaker bonspiel at CurlMorris.

While Club Manager Gabriel Brandt would have been happier with an even split, the 11-9 ratio “is close enough”. The 10-team Women’s event is even at 5 & 5 while six teams will visit from the USA in the Men’s event.

They’ll be playing for first prize money of $1,800 (CDN) in the two events but Brandt says last year’s experiment with a “Playing for the Flag” concept was so popular that it has been brought back and enhanced.

Across the two events, there will be a total of 24 games played between a Canadian and an American team. Simply explained, each win gets marked on the scoreboard with a Canadian OR US flag – and the country that gets to 13 wins first will be declared the international Icebreaker champion nation for this year.

Last year, Brandt says, the bragging rights were on the line right to the final game of the round robin preliminary round when the Canadian team defeated the visitors.

“It’s just a fun idea,” he says, “but we know from watching the Olympics how proud people are to compete fort heir flag and to support the rest of their national team.”

Play starts Friday at 3PM in Morris with games Friday evening and all-day Saturday. Three playoff rounds start at 9AM on Sunday.

On the men’s side, the US teams hail from Colorado (Sobering), Wisconsin (Hebert, Kadlec), Minnesota (Sampson, Sinnett) and North Dakota (Hodek). They’ll take on Manitoba teams skipped by Hayden Forrester, Sean Grassie, Zach Norris and Riley Smith.

The US women will be coming to Morris from Illinois (Hagenbuch), Minnesota (Giroux, Johnson), and North Dakota (McMakin, Workin). They play against Canadian teams from Alberta (Skrlik), Saskatchewan (Thevenot) and Manitoba (Cameron, Hayward, Watling).

With 24 round-robin games, the possibility exists for an even 12-12 split in the results. Not wanting to push the flag-waving over into the playoff round, the committee has decided to start the American side with a one-win advantage – “simply Canadian hospitality,” Brandt explains.

This year’s WCCA Daytime champions were determined Friday at Fort Rouge – the best, for this year, among eight men’s teams, seven Women’s, and eight 2-person stick teams.

Ray Gislason’s Pembina team (Key Boyd, Stan Struthers, Les Newman, and Rick Sproule) took the trophy in the men’s competition. Betty Van Walleghem’s Fort Rouge team (Lorraine Laporte, Brenda Frank, and Sharon Biehl) topped the women’s division. Rob Lacombe and Ralph Nespor’s Assinboine Memorial duo won the 2-person stick competition.